1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus, especially to a lighting apparatus preferably used in a place where water is used such as an aquarium, a terrarium, a bathroom or a washroom or in an environment where large amount of steam or dirt generates. Furthermore, the present invention also relates to a lighting tube, an adapter casing and an adapter for use in the aforementioned lighting apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Although this kind of lighting apparatus is generally equipped with a lighting tube such as a fluorescence pipe to be connected to a power supply, such apparatus tends to cause electrical problems such as electric leakage, electric shock or short-circuit by permeation of water or dirt. To avoid such problems, conventionally, the following water-proof processing and/or dust-proof processing are applied to such a lighting apparatus. That is, in a conventional lighting apparatus, the entire lighting apparatus is covered by a waterproof cover or a dustproof cover in a water-tightly sealed manner or air-tightly sealed manner to thereby prevent permeation of water or dirt.
However, since the conventional waterproof/dustproof cover encloses the entire lighting apparatus, the structure is large and complicated. Therefore, there was a difficulty in attaching the lighting apparatus. Furthermore, since the waterproof/dustproof cover had to be formed to have a dimension capable of covering the entire lighting apparatus, the cover became large, which in turn causes an increased manufacturing cost. Furthermore, although the lighting tube such as a fluorescence tube has to be exchanged as it comes to the end of life, the replacement of the lighting tube was troublesome because the entire lighting apparatus was enclosed by the cover.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned technical background. It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting apparatus which is capable of assuredly sealing a portion required to be liquid-tightly or air-tightly sealed and easily replacing a lighting tube with a new one.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a lighting tube, an adapter casing and an adapter to be used for the aforementioned lighting apparatus.